The outer shell fabric of a firefighter's garment must be flame, heat, abrasion, tear, and moisture resistant, durable, and lightweight. This outer shell fabric provides the first layer of protection for the firefighter.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,095,549; 5,136,723; 5,701,606; 5,983,409; 5,996,122; and 6,038,700 disclose, among other things, firefighter's garments having an outer shell fabric made of PBI/aramid fibers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,299,602 discloses a woven, outer shell fabric made for firefighter's garments where the warp yarns are multi-filament aramid yarns and the weft yarns are either multi-filament or spun aramid yarns.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,065 discloses a firefighter's hood of a knit fabric formed of a blend of PBI and aramid fibers.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,065,153 and 6,192,520 disclose a woven outer shell fabric for a firefighter's garments. This fabric has a plain, twill or rip stop weave and the yarns are a mixture of PBI and aramid fibers. The fabric has a weight ranging from 5.5 to 8 OSY, preferably, 7.5 OSY.
One popular outer shell fabric is a woven fabric of spun yarns consisting of PBI and aramid staple. This fabric is known in the market as ‘PBI GOLD®.’ In the U.S., this fabric generally is made in the following forms: 1) a 7.5 OSY rip stop weave made from a 16/2 c.c. spun yarns consisting of 40% by weight PBI and 60% by weight of a para-aramid; or 2) a nominal 7.0 OSY (actual 7.3 to 7.4 OSY) rip stop weave made from a 21/2 c.c. spun yarns consisting of 40% PBI and 60% of the para-aramid. Internationally, this fabric is in the form of a 6.0 to 6.5 OSY rip stop weave 24-25/2 c.c. spun yarns of 40% PBI and 60% para-aramid, or a twill weave made from 35/2 c.c. spun yarns of 40% PBI and 60% para-aramid.
Another fabric used as an outer shell fabric is marketed under the trade name ‘Millenia’ from Southern Mills, Inc. of Union City, Ga. The Millenia fabric is made with a spun yarn consisting of 40% PBO and 60% para-aramid staple.
While ‘PBI GOLD®’ has proven to be an excellent outer shell fabric, there is still a need to improve these fabrics. There is a desire to have lighter weight fabrics that have better tear and abrasion resistance.